This invention relates to personal coffee brewing device for use in brewing and serving individual servings of coffee.
Coffee has traditionally been brewed by the pot, which is wasteful when only a few servings are needed. Moreover, the demand for individual servings of coffee is increasing with the popularity of "gourmet" flavored coffees, differing preferences for flavors and blends. Serving coffee can be cumbersome and messy, requiring the provision sweetener, creamer, and stirrers, and frequently results in waste and spillage.
What has been needed is some way to provide individual portions of fresh brewed coffee, complete with sweetener and creamer, with a maximum of flexibility and a minimum of effort and waste all in a completely disposable container. The personal coffee brewing device of the present invention meets this need, by providing for the brewing of individual servings of coffee. Generally, the personal coffee brewing device of the present invention comprises an open frame for holding a porous coffee-containing pouch. The frame is generally sized sufficiently smaller than a standard coffee cup that it can be inserted into the cup and stirred vigorously so that hot water in the cup circulates through the frame and the coffee-containing pouch. A handle extends from the frame, to hold the device. The handle is sufficiently long that it can be comfortably held by the user while the frame is immersed in hot water in the cup. The handle has at least one chamber for containing condiments such as sweetener or artificial creamer, and a closure at the end of the handle for closing the chamber.
The coffee-filled pouch can be provided in the frame, or the frame can be empty to allow the user to select the type of coffee to brew. There are preferably two chambers in the handle, so that the device provides both sweetener and creamer, and thus is completely self contained. These two chambers can be removed (separated) from the handle, allowing the user to add his/her choices of sweetner and creamer to the brewing cup of coffee while the frame is still submerged in hot water. This simplifies serving since no separate provision need be made for sweetener or creamer. The handle can be made in two sections, with the condiments provided in a detachable section to facilitate their use.
Thus the personal coffee brewing device allows the user to quickly brew a fresh cup of coffee of the user's selection. The user is treated to fresh coffee, rather than coffee that may have been sitting in a pot for hours, and the user can chose the flavor or type of coffee. The device greatly simplifies serving coffee, eliminating -the need to separately provide sweetener or creamer, and the resulting waste and mass. The device allows the user to make a gourmet cup of coffee in places when one would not normally be able to do so, for example while camping, boating, traveling, etc. These and other features and advantages of the invention will be in part apparent, and in part pointed out hereinafter.